An Open Letter to the NHK
June 8, 2009 Japan, Living in Japan
Dear NHK,
Let me first start by stating that I’ve enjoyed your programs for several years, and have even used your language training programs to help me with the Japanese language. My wife has watched your programs and enjoyed your radio programs for years as well. Not a day goes by where we don’t both sit down and watch at least one hour of your programming. However, it seems that we have a bit of a problem that must be resolved when it comes to the shady practice often referred to as The NHK Tax. I understand that you use the NHK Tax, also known as a “Receiving Fee”, to “provide views and opinions that are not swayed by any government or organization”, but must you do it in such an underhanded fashion?
A collector on your behalf came to my home today after 8:30 PM and insisted on being heard while my wife an I ate our dinner. I should mention that this particular individual should be commended for his diligence, as he’s been stopping by at least once a week for the last six months. But I cannot accept how the man presents himself. First off, he doesn’t wear a uniform or look like a representative of NHK. Second, related to the first issue, he has been scaring my wife by persistently ringing the bell for ten to fifteen minutes whenever he’s come by. If I’m gone to work, she doesn’t answer the door. There have been too many attacks on women in their own homes for my wife to trust any male that she does not know. Third, this guy looks scary. Seriously. When I opened the door, I thought he was going to either stab me, or begin cursing me out for being an “unwelcome invader to Japan”. Fourth, he didn’t properly introduce himself. As an introduction, he pulled out an ID card from his pocket that was so obscured by the unnecessary neck strap that I couldn’t read it at all. This is hardly the professional manners that I’ve come to know and love in Japan. Finally, he has way too much personal information stored on his Toshiba PDA. During our brief conversation he took out his little computer to show me proof that he knew I had a TV in the house and, while he was navigating through the software to get my name, I could read the names, phone numbers, addresses, and other details of quite a few of my neighbours. Considering how much press there has been all over the world with data confidentiality, one would have hoped that a company as large and respected as yours would ensure that third-party collectors would abide by certian rules.
Let me reiterate that I do watch NHK and, because of this, I would agree to pay for the content as it’s a legal requirement. But there is something that I would like to see first, and it’s really quite simple: a monthly, semi-annual, or annual statement. Let me pay on my own terms, without some guy showing up at my door. Better yet, why not make it part of the monthly cable bill? Not only would this save you lots of hassle, but it would get rid of that little problem you have of people refusing to pay because of your scandalous history and receiptless transactions. On top of this, it would solve the five problems that I previously outlined.
I believe that organizations and people should be paid for goods and services rendered, unless of course they’re part of GPL or the public domain. However, with such a shady system in place, I can’t help but feel like this NHK Tax is little more than a legalized 俺俺 (Ore-Ore) scam.
If you’d like to get your money from me, send me a proper bill and I’ll be sure to stop by Circle-K on my way to work.
Thank you,
Jason F. Irwin
June 8, 2009
Comments (5)
I’m not sure if it is consistent across Japan, but once I paid the guy that came to my door, I started receiving bills in the mail, and no more visits from spooky men at night.
I agree it is a strange system – and 90% of the Japanese people I talk to think it is perfectly legitimate to dodge the NHK bill. That is a serious PR problem…
At least the satellite service now indeed sends a bill. The regular terrestrial service apparently does not, not in all areas.
If any of their representatives are acting like thugs you have every right to a) get the guy’s name, and b) call up the local branch (the Gifu office in our case) and bitch them out about it. The collectors who come around have no power or authority so you don’t have to open the door if they refuse to tell you who they are or are uncooperative. Tell them they should send a more believable goon.
My wife will be doing this very thing today but, considering the incredible amount of inaction I see within organizations in Gifu and Aichi, I doubt much will come of it. I wonder if a personal visit to their offices by an angry gaijin will have a greater effect
Apparently there has been a rumor circulating that NHK will consider scrambling their signals if the percentage of people paying the tax drops below a certain threshold. My first thought when I heard this was “so much for public access television.” There have been a few reports of the NHK Tax collectors using Japan Post as a way to get people to open their doors. Whether this is true or not, I don’t know. But it seems that if people are required by law to pay this tax so long as there is a television in the house, then it would only make business sense to have some kind of agreement with Japan Post. Japan Post wouldn’t sell their database of names and addresses (as that would be illegal), but NHK could have them send bills to every building in a given area. Not only would this make the NHK tax appear like less of a scam, but it would likely be met with greater acceptance than having some guy show up at our home during the evening.
That said … I wonder how soon it will be before NHK begins stalking people who claim to not have TVs but have a cell phone with TV capabilities …
I don’t think any television network considers one-seg as a legitimate television receiver. Thanks to the phones’ inability to record the signal in a format that can be played back anywhere else but the phone on which you recorded it, and thanks to the horrendously lossy compression in the first place, NHK would likely go after the carriers rather than the viewers.
I had the same experience, only less scary. But I didn’t know alot of Japanese at the time, and so I directed the un-uniformed guy (who showed no ID, BTW, but who at least was friendly enough) to go talk to the kyouikuinkai/Board of Ed, my wife’s employer (as she was a JET at the time). The BoE sent him back with one of our friends to interpret and so I had to pay.
I didn’t mind so much, but you’re right – it was like just some random guy wanted some ¥en from me. It occurred to me that this would be a great opportunity for a scam – just walk around and claim to be from NHK and take people’s money.